Designing aquaponic production systems

75 Pages·2016·3.2 MB·English

by  Ragar Ingi Danner

Designing aquaponic production systems

Ragnar Ingi Danner

Faculty of Life and Environmental
Sciences
University of Iceland
2016

Ragnar Ingi Danner

90 ECTS thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a
Magister Scientiarum degree in Biology

Advisors
Ragnheiður Inga Þórarinsdóttir
Kesara Anamthawat-Jónsson

Faculty Representative
Kesara Anamthawat-Jónsson

External Examiner:
Sveinn Aðalsteinsson

Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
Reykjavik, May 2016
Designing aquaponic production systems
90 ECTS thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a Magister Scientiarum degree in
Biology

Copyright © 2016 Ragnar Ingi Danner
All rights reserved

Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
Sturlugata 7
101, Reykjavik
Iceland

Telephone: [phone]

Bibliographic information:
Ragnar Ingi Danner, 2016, Designing aquaponics production systems, Master’s thesis,
Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, pp. 59.

Printing: Háskólaprent
Reykjavik, Iceland, May 2016
Abstract
Aquaponics is a method of producing food in a sustainable manner where fish and plants
are grown together in a closed loop of nutrients. An aquaponics system is comprised of fish
rearing tanks, mechanical- and biological filtration and hydroponics units in a closed loop
of nutrients. Fish waste produces nutrients for the plants in the hydroponic unit
consequently removing nutrients from the water column to make the culture water more
suitable for fish. The purpose of this research was to evaluate and calculate the production
of tilapia and different aquaponic vegetables through a study period of two years. The
suitability of locally available feed and the selection of plant species were assessed. Effects
of water flow on plant growth and nutrient utilization were measured. In this study, six
aquaponics systems were built in four different places. One of the systems was a nutrient
film technology system whereas four were deep water cultures. Moreover, a flood and
drain system was built and tested. One system was built within an industrial building and
received artificial lighting while the others were all located inside greenhouses. Tilapia,
which is one of the most popular fish in aquaculture, was reared in all systems while
different leafy green and fruiting plants were grown. The fish were fed commercial
aquaculture feed for cod and charr. The feed conversion ratio is used to assess how
effective the fish’s growth is, typical FCR for tilapia is between 1.0 and 1.8 depending on
the feed quality and environment. The FCR observed in this research was between 0.9 and
1.5. Leafy green plants especially pak-choi showed similar yield to other research,
expected approximately four times the production of fish in mature systems. Fruiting
plants did not do as well as leafy greens in this experiment.

Útdráttur
Samrækt er sjálfbær ræktunaraðferð þar sem fiskur og grænmeti er ræktað saman í lokaðri
hringrás næringarefna. Samræktarkerfi samanstendur af fiskitönkum, fastefnasíu, lífhreinsi
og vatnsræktarkerfi. Úrgangur fisksins losar næringarefni sem plönturnar nýta sér til
vaxtar, við það lækkar styrkur næringarefnanna og kerfið verður vistlegra fyrir fiskinn.
Tilgangur rannsóknarinnar var að bera saman ræktun á mismunandi tegundum grænmetis,
meta hentugleika íslensks fiskeldisfóðurs til ræktunar á beitarfiski og meta hvaða plöntur
henta best í framleiðslu með samrækt. Sex mismunandi kerfi voru byggð í rannsókninni og
mælingar framkvæmdar á þeim til að meta samspil þátta innan kerfisins og áhrif þeirra á
stöðu kerfisins. Eitt kerfið var NFT kerfi, fjögur voru svokölluð DWC kerfi og eitt var
flood and drain kerfi. Eitt DWC kerfið var byggt í iðnaðarhúsnæði, þar sem notast var við
raflýsingu. Tilapia eða beitarfiskur er einn vinsælasti eldisfiskur í heimi og var ræktaður í
öllum kerfum á meðan plöntuval var misjafnt milli kerfa og samanstóð bæði af
blaðgrænmeti sem og ávaxtaplöntum. Fiskarnir voru fóðraðir á eldisfóðri fyrir sjófisk og
bleikju og fóðurstuðull þeirra reiknaður. Fóðurstuðull er mælikvarði á hversu vel fiskurinn
vex og er jafnan á bilinu 1,0 og 1,8 fyrir beitarfisk. Í þessari rannsókn var fóðurstuðullinn á
bilinu 0,9 til 1.5. Blaðgrænmeti, sérstaklega pak-choi skilaði góðum niðurstöðum í
kerfunum, sambærilegum við aðrar rannsóknir. Ávaxtaplöntur skiluðu ekki eins góðum
árangri.

Table of Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................................................... viii
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ x
List of Equations ................................................................................................................. xi
Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... xii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xiii
1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1
2 Background ..................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Aquaponics .............................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Nitrification ............................................................................................................. 4
2.3 Hydroponic system types ........................................................................................ 6
2.4 Fauna & Flora .......................................................................................................... 7
3 Materials and methods ................................................................................................. 11
3.1 Systems .................................................................................................................. 11
3.1.1 System 1: Show case setup ......................................................................... 11
3.1.2 System 2 – 4: Greenhouse setup .................................................................. 13
3.1.3 System 5: Industry building setup................................................................ 15
3.1.4 System 6: Commercial Pilot setup ............................................................... 17
3.2 Fauna ..................................................................................................................... 18
3.3 Flora....................................................................................................................... 18
3.4 Lighting and electrical appliances ......................................................................... 19
3.5 Statistical analysis ................................................................................................. 19
3.6 Water sampling and Chemical analysis ................................................................. 20
4 Results ............................................................................................................................ 21
4.1 System 1 ................................................................................................................ 21
4.2 Systems 2-4 ........................................................................................................... 21
4.3 System 5 ................................................................................................................ 25
4.4 System 6 ................................................................................................................ 33
5 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 37
6 Conclusions and recommendations. ............................................................................ 41
References........................................................................................................................... 43
Appendix A feed and additive ingredients ...................................................................... 47
Appendix B Posters and other material .......................................................................... 51
Appendix C Test kit user manuals. .................................................................................. 57
vii
List of Figures
Figure 2.1 Typical setup of an aquaponic system modified from Thorarinsdottir, et al.
2015. ................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 2.2 An illustration of a decoupled aquaponic system, modified from
Thorarinsdottir et al. 2015. ................................................................................. 7
Figure 3.1 A schematic illustration of the showcase system. .............................................. 12
Figure 3.2 A photograph of System 1. ................................................................................ 12
Figure 3.3 System 2, the arrows indicate the flow of water through the system. ............... 13
Figure 3.4 A photograph taken of System 3 while it was operative, system 1 can be
seen in the background. .................................................................................... 14
Figure 3.5 System 3, the arrows indicate the flow of water through the system. ............... 14
Figure 3.6 Schematic overview of System 4. ...................................................................... 15
Figure 3.7 The layout of System 5. ..................................................................................... 16
Figure 3.8 A schematic overview System 6. Arrows indicate the course of water
through the system 1A-1C are fish tanks. 2A is the drumfilter, 2B is the
solids collection tank. 3 is the sump 4A is the biofilter, 4B is the trickling
tower and 5 is the hydroponic unit. .................................................................. 17
Figure 3.9 The hydroponic part of the system. ................................................................... 18
Figure 4.1 Nitrogen data from System 2. ............................................................................ 22
Figure 4.2 Nitrogen data for System 3. ............................................................................... 22
Figure 4.3 pH and conductivity data for System 2. ............................................................. 23
Figure 4.4 pH and conductivity data for System 3 in the greenhouse. ............................... 23
Figure 4.5 Basil (near) and mint (far) in System 3. ............................................................. 24
Figure 4.6 Rucola plant shows deficiency symptoms, healthy basil plant in the back. ...... 24
Figure 4.7 Tomato plants in the growbed in System 4. ....................................................... 25
Figure 4.8 Peppers in System 4. .......................................................................................... 25
viii